Book I. 



GARDENS OF IRELAND 



1093 



and planted extensively. (See An Account of the Improvements on the Marquis of Stafford's Estates, %c. 

 by James Loch, Esq. Svo. 1820.) 



Dunrobin Castle, — at Dunrobin; Marquis of Stafford. 

 There is no mansion employed as a residence, but it is said 

 a magnificent one is in con tem plation, and there is a park 

 devoted to the breeding and feeding of 1000 mountain deer. 

 In the garden, apples, pears, and cherries thrive perfectly 



well, and every thing might be obtained by the use of 

 glass. 



Skibo, — at Skibo ; Dempster, Esq. Extensive plant- 

 ations have been formed, and in the gardens apricots and 

 walnuts have sometimes ripened. 



7617. ROSS-SHIRE. A surface of 1,776,000 acres ; the eastern part fertile, and containing some 

 country-seats ; but the rest rude, mountainous, and fit only for plantations and pasture. In no part of 

 Scotland have the proprietors been more assiduous in forming public roads, and in planting extensive 

 moory tracts. 



Market-Gardens and Orchards. — There are none of the 

 former ; but there is an old orchard at Hedcastle, in which the 

 nonpareil ripens as an espalier. At Castle Braham, Novar, 

 and Braelangwell, are also orchards of recent formations. 



Invergordon Castle, — near Invergordon ; M'Leod, Esq. 



A handsome house, by Gillespie, of Edinburgh, surrounded 

 by thriving plantations, on grounds where eighty years ago not 

 a tree was to be seen. 



Nurar, — near Cromarty; Sir H. Monro. A great and 

 finished place, and one of the most complete in the north ; the 

 situation of the house is elevated, and it commands a fine view 

 of the bay of Cromarty. 



Roxburgh. House, — near Avoch ; . A modern 



edifice, substantially built and commodious. It is situated on 

 a beautiful bank near the sea, and surrounded by a Scottish 



park, that is, an assemblage of grass-fields, surrounded by 

 strips and varied by masses and groups. 



Baliuigotvan, — near Kilmuir ; Sir J. C. Ross. A most de- 

 sirable seat, surrounded by an immense extent of thriving 

 plantation. 



Nerv Tarbat, — near Kilmuir ; Earl of Cromarty. A superb 

 modern house, inferior to few seats in Scotland, surrounded 

 by extensive grounds and plantations, which join those of 

 Balnagowan. 



Braham Castle, — near Urray ; Lord Seaforth. A fine build- 

 ing, pleasantly situated on the river Conan, and surrounded 

 by extensive and well planted grounds, containing a good 

 kitchen-garden and an extensive collection of exotic and hardy 

 plants. 



Red Castle, — near Loch Beauly ; Colonel Grant. An ancient 

 and respectable residence considerably improved. 



7648. INVERNESS-SHIRE. A surface of 2,000,000 of acres, being the largest county in Scotland. 

 It consists of two ranges of mountains, separated by a chain of lakes now united by the Caledonian 

 canal. The valleys are fertile ; many of the mountains are covered with natural forests inhabited by the 

 red and roe deer, the alpine and common hare, and other exquisite sorts of game. 



Beauly, covers a space of forty-seven feet in diameter. A 

 Beauly pear-tree is kpoken of, which used to produce sixteen 

 sacks of fruit in a season. 



Castle Braham, — at Braham; Lord Seaforth. The garden and 

 demesne greatly improved under the direction of Gibbs, now 

 a nurseryman atlnverness. The Canadian rice (Zizania aquatica) 

 is naturalised on the lakes and »ponds ; and extensive and 

 thriving plantations abound over the whole estate. 



Kilravock, — near Croy ; . Gardens laid out 



with taste ; fruitful orchards and extensive woods, embracing 

 an elegant modem house, situated on a rock hanging over and 

 washed by the Navin. 



Cantray, — near Croy ; Davidson, Esq. A commodious 



house, aud the grounds planted and greatly improved. 



Glengairy House, — atGlengairy ; M'Donald, Esq. The 



house on the shore of Loch Orich, surrounded by wood, and 

 approached from the lake by a fine old avenue. 



Castle Grant, — at Grant ; Sir J. Grant. The house consists 

 of three sides of a quadrangle, improved by R. Adam, beauti- 

 fully situated on the north side of the Spey. It commands an 

 extensive and noble landscape} including the park in which 

 it stands of 4000 acres, and the natural forest of Abernethy of 

 40,000 acres, at the base of the lofty mountains of Cairn- 

 gorum. Eastward lies the wide-bending cultivated vale of 

 Cromdale watered by the Spey. 



Inverness Nursery, — at Inverness; Messrs. Gibbs. A very 

 extensive establishment for forest trees and hardy fruit-trees ; 

 with branch nurseries at other towns. Here is a very com- 

 plete nursery orchard of all the hardy fruit-trees which ripen 

 their fruits as standards, andfrom which the scions and cuttings 

 for propagation are taken. 



Orchards There are but few public or commercial orchards, 



but some private ones, of which a great part of the produce is 

 sent to market. One of the largest is at Auchnagairn, near 

 Inverness. It was planted in 1788, chiefly with the Hereford- 

 shire cider apples. The trees are now in a full bearing state. 

 They are placed thirty feet apart : till lately the intermediate 

 spaces were regularlycropped, according to the rotation of the 

 farm, along with which the orchard is let ; now, however, the 

 branches nearly meet, and grass is found to be the preferable 

 under-crop. The old garden at Castle Stewart, belonging to 

 the Earl of Moray, and situated seven miles north-east of In- 

 verness, may also perhaps be ranked as an orchard. The trees 

 are chiefly morella and Kentish cherries, and the large black 

 gean. They are generally of great size, and many of them 

 shattered with age, having seen several centuries; yet they 

 often produce most plentiful crops. At Milltown, of Ketwall, 

 there are some remarkably large lammas and achan pear- 

 trees, about a century old. They are very productive. An 

 apple-tree here in the orchard of Easter Lovat, on the river 



7649. ARGYLESHIRE. An extensive surface of 3800 square miles, consisting of hills and mountains, 

 with several islands considered as belonging to it. It abounds in lakes and inlets of the sea, and con- 

 tains some natural woods ; but the climate is moist, and excepting in the department of arboriculture, 

 does not excel in gardening. There are some small market-gardens at Cambleton ; and a branch nursery 

 from that of Gibbs at Inverness, at Inverary. 



Inverary Castle, —near Inverary ; Duke of Argyle. A square'castellated 

 mansion, with a tower at each corner, and a high glazed pavilion, 

 shooting up above the towers from the centre of the roof. It is built 

 of a grey stone [lapis ollaris, or pot-stone) which becomes black with a 

 shower of rain, and is immediately restored by a gleam of sunshine, 

 which is a fertile source of singular effects in this moist weeping cli- 

 mate. It stands on a lawn, which extends to Loch Fyne, an inlet of the 

 sea fifteen miles in circumference, surrounded by rising groves of plant- 

 ations on the sides, and reaching towards the summits of the highest 

 mountains and rocky steeps, sprinkled with rising trees. (Jig. 756.) 

 One of these mountains is Dunicoick, covered with wood, excepting 

 where the rugged rocks project through the trees, and add greatly to its 

 grandeur. On its top stands a lonely watch-tower, which, like every 

 thing useful or characteristic, has a good effect. Had this hill been 

 crowned with an ornamental building, the effect would have been 

 absurd. A plan was prepared for substituting ramparts and bastions, 

 which would have been equally fatal to its present simplicity and 

 grandeur. 



The bold, and in some places savage, features of this part of the 

 country, require only a judicious disposition of wood to render them || 

 more hospitable to the eye, and to improve the pasture and the climate. 

 The larch-tree has already effected wonders in Argyleshire ; and what 

 its effects may be over the whole of the Highlands by the time half a 

 century more has elapsed, it is difficult to imagine. Savage will then be 

 changed to, or at least combined with, sylvan grandeur. 



7650. BUTESHIRE comprehends the islands of Bute 

 and Arran, and some smaller isles ; hilly, but with a mode- 

 rate climate, and in general favorable to the growth of trees 

 and hedges. There are two or three small orchards and 

 market-gardens near Rothsay and Mount Stewart. 



Mount Stewart, — Marquis of Bute. An elegant house, com- 

 manding a fine view of the Firth of Clyde, surrounded by ex- 

 tensive plantations, formed by the late marquis, abounding 

 with various sorts of game, and in which the turkey is natu- 



ralised. The gardens contained a good collection of plants ; 

 but, excepting the kitchen-garden, they are now in a state of 

 comparative neglect. 



Sect. IV. Ireland. 



1651. The surface of Ireland, which is estimated at 11,067,712 Irish acres, is much 

 less varied than Scotland and Wales, but rather more so than England, though great 

 part of it consists of bog and wastes, yet these are everywhere improvable by draining 

 and culture, or planting. The climate is more temperate than that of Britain, but also 

 more moist ; it is, on the whole, highly favorable to the culture of leaves and roots ; 



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